Improving College Teaching Using an Interactive, Compensatory Model of Learning
GREGORY J. SCHRAW and DAVID W. BROOKS, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
March 1 - April 23, 1999 Apply: PITT
No new applications accepted after 8 March
Note: This course will be offered via the WWW.
This course introduces participants to an interactive, compensatory model of learning (ICML) that emphasizes the role of four separate components: human abilities, the knowledge base, strategies and motivation. Human abilities refer to differences in information processing speed and capacity. The knowledge base refers to organized declarative and metacognitive knowledge in long term memory. Strategies refer to procedures that enable learners to solve specific problems. Motivation refers to beliefs about one's ability to successfully perform a task, as well as one's goals for performing a task.
The purpose of this course is to improve college teaching by better understanding each of the ICML's four components, and using this model to guide instructional practice. Participants will read a paper prepared for this course that describes each component in detail. This paper discusses the relative importance of each component relative to the three remaining components, and summarizes current research that addresses the extent to which each component contributes to classroom learning. The paper also discusses ways in which learners compensate for deficits in one component (e.g., ability) by using other components (e.g., strategies).
The course format will be: (1) participants read a paper summarizing the ICML; (2) they discuss this paper with other students in a limited-access electronic discussion group; (3) they offer examples from their own teaching that illustrate typical college teaching problems; (4) they share strategies based on the ICML to reduce or eliminate these problems.
Dr. Schraw is Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where he specializes in motivation and learning. He is the former director of undergraduate education in the educational psychology program at UNL. Dr. D. Brooks is Professor of Chemistry Education at the University of Nebraska/Lincoln. He has created numerous multimedia instructional materials and authored the book, Web-Teaching.